Apparatus for the continuous treatment of especially thick, voluminous textile materials with large widths

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to a steamer apparatus for the dyestuff fixing of textile materials made of natural and synthetic fibers which comprises a heat-insulated treatment chamber containing a plurality of conveying rollers disposed in the upper portion thereof, and containing a drive means associated therewith, heating means disposed within said treatment chamber, inlet means for introducing the material to be treated to said treatment chamber and outlet roller means disposed at substantially the same level as said conveying roller but outside of the treatment chamber, said outlet roller means communicating with the drive means of the last conveying roller.

United States Patent [191 Fleissner 5] March 6, 1973 APPARATUS FOR THECONTINUOUS 3,367,039 2/1968 Jacobsen ..68/5 D X TREATMENT OF ESPECIALLYTHICK 3,529,447 9/1970 Fleissner et al.. ...68/D1G. 5 3,060,517 12/1962Deyber ..68/5 D WITH LARGE WIDTHS FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS [75]Invent: mm Fleissfif Frankfu am 284,674 6/1928 Great Britain ..68/9

Main, Germany [73] Assignee: Vepa AG, Basel, Switzerland PrimaryExamine" Robef't Jenkins Assistant Examiner-Phillip R. Coe [22] Flled:May 1970 Att0mey-Craig, Antonelli & Hill [2]] 'Appl. No.: 41,311

[57] ABSTRACT 0 Foreign Application priority Dam The present disclosurerelates to a steamer apparatus for the dyestuff fixing of textilematerials made of Jan. 19, 1970 Germany ..P 20 02 144.7 natural andSynthetic fibers which comprises a sulated treatment chamber containinga plurality of [52] U.S. CI. ..68/5 E, 68/D1G. 5, 68/9 Conveying rollersdisposed in the upper portion [51 111l- Cl ..D06C 1/10 thereof, andcontaining a drive means associated [58] held of Search "34/242; 68/DIG'3 5 therewith, heating means disposed within said treat- 68/5 22 27 mentchamber, inlet means for introducing the materia] to be treated to saidtreatment chamber and outlet [56] References C'ted roller means disposedat substantially the same level as UNITED STATES PATENTS said conveyingroller but outside of the treatment chamber, said outlet roller meanscommunicating with 2,785,042 3/1957 Grajeck et a] ..68/5 DD X the drivemeans of the last conveying roller, 2,485,710 10/1949 Derby 3,074,2611/1963 Wilcox ,.68/5 D 11 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEU 51975 SHEET10F 3 hue/7hr:

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HEINZ. FLEISSNER BY HnImPIflL Skwavl: 1' ATTORNEY5 PATENTED 61975 3,719,062

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Hsmz FLmssusa BY Cvai Harman, Stewart 1 Hill ATTORNEYS BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for thecontinuous treatment of textile materials, particularly thick,voluminous textiles of large widths such as tuft ed carpets made ofsynthetic and/or natural fibers, especially polyacrylonitrile fibers.The apparatus comprises a dyestuff applicator and a steamer for dyestuffsetting provided with guide rollers which are arranged near the steamerceiling and ensure the formation of unilaterally guided material loops.A heated water sump for the production of saturated steam and a materialdischarge unit are also utilized. The apparatus further comprises awashing unit, a dryer and a common drive and control assembly fordriving and adjusting the individual machines.

This kind of apparatus is especially advantageous because it permits thereplacement of the discontinous dyeing process, applied up to now, withanother process which is more economical and ensures a better finalquality of the dyed material. By means of this apparatus it is nowpossible to continuously dye any textile material length, to set thedyestuffs, to wash out the residual dyes and finally to dry the dyedmaterial.

Several problems must be taken into consideration when designing thedischarge end of the steamer of this apparatus. Steam leakage must bekept to a minimum,

the steam atmosphere within the steamer must be kept as clean aspossible, i.e., there must not be any influx of fresh air to thesteamer, and finally, the textiles which have been heated up to atemperature of about 100C. must not be squeezed when leaving themachine, i.e., the upright pile fibers must not be pressed down. Thislast point is especially important with pile carpets which are made ofpolyacrylonitrile or similar type fibers, the softening point of whichare less than about 100C. As soon as a fiber with this physicalcharacteristic has been heated up to the setting temperature, any kindof pressure marks the fiber, and the dislocation of the pile fiberswhich usually occurs in a surge tank, are permanently set.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to avoidthe prior art disadvantages in the treatment of textile materials.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedsteamer apparatus for the treatment of textile materials including thosewhich are susceptible to high temperature, such as those containingpolyacrylonitrile fibers.

Other objects and further scope of applicability of the presentinvention will become apparent from the detailed description givenhereinafter; it should be understood, however, that the detaileddescription and specific examples, while indicating preferredembodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only,since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope ofthe invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from thisdetailed description.

For materials which feature a low softening point it is thereforesuggested to replace or preferably to supplement the surge tank by anopen material discharge unit, arranged at the same level as the drivenconveying rollers. A guide roller is disposed outside the steamer,similar to those guide rollers utilized inside the steamer,

said roller ensuring that only the reverse side of the material beingtreated comes into contact with machine parts. Thus, the pile side ofthe material is undisturbed and the fibers can harden in the requiredupright position in the subsequent cooling zone where. the cooling airis applied preferably to the material underside. A most advantageousarrangement is obtained if at least one sieve drum is provided which issubject to an excess pressure. The pipe of the suction device whichserves for raising the pile of the material can be used for reversingthe material before feeding it onto the above sieve drum. The drumportion which is not covered by the material being treated is screenedoff from the suction draft by means of a segment-shaped baffle plate.

The material which is discharged from the sieve drum can be reversed bymeans of a roller or a drum which can be arranged at the pile side ofthe material because the fibers have already been sufficiently cooleddown, thus eliminating possible pile deformations.

One or several nozzle assemblies can' be utilized instead of a blowerdrum. These nozzle assemblies and the adjoining fans with drive unitscan be designed in the same way as those which are normally used withstenters.

Since solvent dyeing processes are gaining an ever increasingimportance, it is suggested in accordance with the present-invention toconstruct the device in such a way that it can also be used for solventsdyeing. Ac cording to the present invention it has been found that thiscan be easily obtained by providing the steamer with an exhaust openingon or near the floor. This exhaust opening can be connected with asolvent recovery unit which can be installed in a separate room. Theother steam exhaust pipes at the inlet and discharge ends of the steamercan also be connected with this solvent recovery unit. The dyestuffapplicator can be used for applying the solvent/dye liquor onto thematerial. Dye setting is effected in a solvent/steam atmosphere in thesteamer. Solvent removal can be effected by means of nozzles which arearranged at the discharge end of the steamer and serve for blowingsuperheated steam onto the material. However, it is also possible toremove the solvents by guiding the material through a surge tank and byheating the liquor in this surge tank to near boiling temperature. Withthis process most of the applied solventis evaporated; it collects onthe steamer floor because its specific weight is higher than that ofevaporated water and is then exhausted and guided to the solventrecovery unit. Part of the solvent remains in the water of the surgetank from where it can be removed directly by means of a water separatoror a centrifuge. In order to avoid too strong a solvent concentration inthe surge tank, part of the water is permanently circulated in the waterseparator or the centrifuge and thus constantly purified. Both thesolvent and the water can be reused.

Despite all its other advantages, the suggested discharge opening on alevel with the driven guide rollers near the ceiling of the steamer isstill disadvantageous inasmuch as high volume of air is lost at such anopen discharge end. Since steam is lighter than air it flows outpreferably at the discharge end near the steamer ceiling. It can ofcourse be exhausted so that it does not hinder the operators but steamconsumption of a steamer with this kind of material discharge end israther high. It is therefore one of the features of the presentinvention to provide a discharge end which permits the guidance of allkinds of textile materials, including those made of polyacrylonitrilefibers, through one and the same discharge opening into one subsequentwashing machine, without the danger of any steam losses, without anypile fiber dislocation, which may be due to water flows and without anysqueezing of the pile. The pile fibers must be raised upright beforebeing cooled down below their softening point.

According to the present invention all this is obtained by arranging theend wall of the steamer in such a way-that it is freely suspended andextends almost down to the water sump on the steamer floor, with whichit forms a material discharge slit near the floor. Advantageously, aloop length adjusting unit is installed near the material loop whichforms at the bottom edge of this discharge slit. By arranging thedischarge opening hear the steamer floor, it is possible to prevent thematerial from coming into contact with anything, not even with water,when leaving the steamer. It is also possible, at the same time, toeliminate any excessive steam leakage. Advantageously, the end wall issuspended down beyond the steamer floor plate so that the discharge endproper is arranged beneath the steamer floor. This discharge end canalso be followed by a suction device, disposed at the material pileside, outside the steamer, said suction device forcing the pile fibersinto the required upright position. This suction device can be followedbya natural cooling zone which is obtained by arranging a guide rolleroutside the steamer, on a level with the steamer ceiling, onto which theunderside of the material is conveyed so that any bending of the fiberswhich are not yet cooled down below their softening point is prevented.This guide roller can be advantageously designed as an expanding rollerwhich removed plaits, which may have been produced, from the material.

In another embodiment, the apparatus of the present invention can beprovided with a beating unit which is arranged behind the washingmachine, near the reverse side of the downwardly running materialstringer. This beating unit alsoeffects a re-raising of the pile fibers.The air movement which, is produced by the beating motion of this unitalso provides a more rapid cooling of the material. With a materialdischarge end of the above described type, with subsequent cooling zone,the temperature of thematerial length is generally lower than thesoftening point of the respective fibers. In this case the material canbe guided through the subsequent washing machine with its pile sidecontacting the drum surfaces, in tandem-connected wash bowls. If thematerial is cool enough, the pile cannot be adversely affected. However,if the cooling zone has been omitted, if the washing machine is directlyconnected with the steamer, if the cooling process has deliberately beenprolonged or if a permanent displacement of the fibers is feared, thefirst wash bowl can be designed in such a way that instead of the pileside, the reverse side of the material is conveyed on the drum surface.This is possible because the drum of the first wash bowl behind thesteamer can be rotated in the opposite direction to the subsequentdrums. As a consequence, the material length is guided in the first washbowl in the opposite direction to normal material passage. It isexpedient to effect the take-over of the material from the first washbowl from the bottom section of this bowl, e.g., by providing thefoundation of the device with a cavity for the second wash bowl. Thislatter as well as the preceding provisions can also be made for solventprocessing machines, the only special requirement being that themachines are sealed against the outside air.

However, in certain cases the discharge end of the steamer is preferablydesigned as a surge tank. The well-known advantages of a surge tank arethat it ensures a percent tightness of the steamer against outside airand also, the unset dyestuffs are substantially removed in the surgetank. However, depending on the physical characteristics of the textilefibers used for the material to be processed, it is disadvantageous tocool down the fibers rapidly from their setting temperature to the watertemperature. The surge tank has always been objected to because thewater of the surge tank inside the steamer has too low a temperature sothat the steam condenses on the water surface. in order to improve theabove described device, it would be desirable to develop a surge tankwhich would make it possible to cool the material, slowly, down fromsetting temperature to the outside air temperature and to eliminate thepermanent fixation of pile fiber displacements which usually occur whenthe material enters the surge tank. According to the present inventionthese two requirements are met if both the inlet and discharge ducts ofthe surge tank have a considerably height and if the cold fresh water isintroduced at the end of the discharge duct and is removed at thebeginning of the inlet duct. If desired, the surge tank can be exactlyas high as the steamer, which also ensures an excellent washing effect.

If the water is conveyed through the surge tank on the counterflowprinciple, i.e., if the water is added from the outside and flows off onthe inside of the steamer, there is a uniform temperature drop in thedischarge duct from the high inside temperature down to the fresh watertemperature which prevails at the end of the discharge duct. Thistemperature drop is produced by the material heating the water as it isconveyed therethrough. Control of the fresh water supply from theoutside can be effected by heating the water at the material inlet endup to l009C.so that the material which itself has a temperature of 100C.is introduced into water of the same temperature. Thus any permanentpile fiber displacement is effectively eliminated. The water flowingalong the material length in the opposite direction of material passageensures that pressed-down pile fibers are uniformly re-raised as soon asthe material immerses into' the liquor. The fibers are then set to therequired upright position during the slow cooling process which thematerial is subjected to in the long discharge duct of the surge tank.Apart from this, a surge tank which is designed in accordance with theinvention also prevents the steam from condensing on the hot watersurface inside the steamer.

It is advantageous if the outer wall of the discharge duct is higherthan the outer wall of the inlet duct so that the upper edge of theinlet discharge duct wall can serve as one overflow for the water whichhas to be removed from the surge tank. The water which flows off at theinside of the surge tank can be guided into the water sump of thesteamer. This means that the filament energy which would be needed forheating the water from the outside temperature to the evaporatingtemperature, can be saved.

The above-described type of material discharge duct is necessary andadvisable only for materials which are susceptible to pile fiberdisplacement. If other types of material are processed in the steamerthe discharge end can be designed as a known surge tank which, despiteits simple construction, guarantees perfect steamtightness. In such asurge tank, the water surface itself serves for sealing, for instance, avertical discharge duct which is completely surrounded by water. Here,however, it is disadvantageous that the cold watersurface comes intocontact with the steam which is contained in the steamer. Therefore, itwas suggested to seal the discharge duct above the water surface bymeans of a sheet metal plate with a. longitudinal discharge slit, saidplate being mounted to the inner wall of the discharge duct.

However, it has been foundthat the material may accumulate above thisplate either because of an unevenness of the material, or because offaulty threading of the material length into the steamer, or the like.In order to improve the above sealing between the water surface and thesteamer interior and .to prevent the material from accumulating abovethe plate, it'is. suggested, according to the present invention, toinstall above the water surface of the surge tank, in the discharge ductof the steamer, a sealing means, ezg., a funnel-shaped plate with alongitudinal material discharge slit, the two sides of which runlaterally to the material and are downwardly inclined.

The above device comprises a steamer through which the material isguided in the form of long loops. Especially for treating voluminoustextile-materials it is expedient to omit the guide rollers at thematerial backside so that the material length hangs only on the topguide rollers by means of which it is also transported. With such asteamer type there can be several reasons for a non-uniform materialspeed. However, any speed change at the material discharge end of thesteamer makes itself felt on all subsequent machines, whether theirspeed out to be higher, or lower. For controlling the machines followingthe steamer it is suggested to design the guide roller within the surgetank as an oscillating roller. By means of such an oscillating roller itis possible to adjust the peripheral speeds of the machines which followthe steamer in dependence of the delivery speed of the material which isbeing discharged from the steamer.

The recommended device usually comprises two wash bowls after thesteamer, which bowls are generally necessary for the effective removalof superfluous dyestuffs from the textile material. Another aspect ofthe present invention is to find a way of omitting one of thesewash'bowls and make the device shorter and less expensive. According tothe present invention this is obtained by designing the surge tank atthe discharge end of the steamer as a wash bowl, e.g., by installing asqueezing unit at the end of the surge tank for removing the liquorwhich has been taken up while the material was passed through the surgetank. Only by squeezing off the liquor and by pressing the material is agood washing effect obtained with a wash bowl which comprises only onesingle roller for guiding the material. Of course, it is also possibleto use a sieve drum instead of a simple guide roller.

Another problem encountered is the maintenance of an exact materialguidance of the material in each individual machine. The material shouldbe conveyed through the machines without any folds and advantageously inthe middle of the working widths. In

order to obtain a crease-free guidance of the material, expander rollerscan be used which are, for instance, provided with a special threadrunning from the center of the roller outward. By means of this thread,the

material length is expanded in width. For the center guidance of thematerial there are several elements which can be utilized. Opticalselvedge feelers with an automatic adjustment of the required materialpassage, crowned guide rollers or guide rollers which are verticallyswivelable in the direction of material passage, can be utilized.

Practical experiences with the loop steamer have shown that the materialcannot be prevented from running off the center of the guide rollers. Inorder to facilitate a faultless winding-up of the material at the end ofthe-device, according to the present invention, it is necessary toprovide a means for feeding the material exactly to the. center ofthe'working width of the subsequent washing machine. This means ispreferably installed after the steamer. According to the presentinvention this can be obtained by arranging an expanding roller with asubsequent guide roller overhead the discharge end and between thedischarge end and the following wash bowl, and by installing anadjusting unit in front of the wash bowl, which adjusting unit can be aroller which is swivelably tranversely to the direction of materialpassage. Possibly a subsequent guide rollerwhich serves for feeding thematerial into this wash bowl can be additionally provided.

This type of unit is especially advantageous if the surge bowl of thesteamer is designed as a wash bowl, i.e., if it is provided with asqueezing unit. In this case the material has a relatively lowweightlsqm. when it is transported from the squeezing unit to theexpander roller which is arranged above the squeezing unit because theoverall length of the device is required to be rather restricted. Thiskind of material discharge endwould be detrimentalfor unsqueezedmaterials since in this case the heavy textile material length would besusceptible to lengthwise stretch. However, there must be a relativelywide distance between the expander roller and the adjusting unit inorder to obtain a sufficiently long control distance.

The device for the continuous treatment, especially dyeing and/orprinting of thick, voluminous textile materials of large widthscomprises several machines which, as arranged in line in the directionof material passage include a dyestuff applicator, a steamer, a

washing machine and a dryer. Since this kind of production line israther expensive to purchase it will only operate economically if it ispermanently running. The washing machine and the dryer can easily standa full 24-hour operation. The dyestuff applicator and the steamer,however, must be cleaned from time to time. Also the dryer and thewasher machine must be stopped from time to time. Besides, the washingmachine and the dryer are often used for materials which were previouslydyed in a discontinuous process, e.g., by means of a winch beck insteadof a dyestuff applicator with a subsequent steamer.

For the further treatment of these materials in the washing machine andthe dryer, with the steamer being omitted, it is suggested in accordancewith the present invention to arrange a cloth beam with rollers behindthe washing machine, which ensures material conveyance between theindividual machines. In this case the device is extended by about 3 mand it is thus possible to push one or several carriages underneath thecloth beam. The carriages can contain the material which comes from awinch beck. From these carriages the material is fed into the wash bowland the dryer.

In order to ensure an effective treatment of the v material, a washingmachine usually comprises more than two wash bowls. According to thepresent invention it is advantageous to arrange the cloth beam betweenthe two bowls or, if several wash bowls are provided, preferably infront of the last bowl. This arrangement offers the great advantage thatthe material which is possible drawn out of the carriages, is againthoroughly soaked before entering the dryer. The upper layers of thematerial which has been stored in a carriage inevitably dry out whilethe bottom layers stay wet or are even immersed in liquor which. mayhave gathered on the carriage bottom. According to the present inventionthis disadvantage can be easily compensated by installing the cloth beamin front of the last wash bowl and by ensuring that the material lengthis uniformly re.-wetted before the drying process. It is of coursepossible to replace this wash bowl by another wetting unit, e.g., asimple dipping unit.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the free space infrontof the cloth beam can have a length of at least two carriagewidths. This permits plaiting of the material which leaves the steamerinto one carriage and feeding the subsequent dryer with material fromthe second carriage. This cloth beam can also be used in the material tobe process is plaited in several carriages. If two carriages aredisposed beside one another, the end of one material length can be sewnto the beginning of the other material length. This permits thecontinuous treatment of the textile material in the subsequent machines.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will become morefully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and theaccompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only andthus are not limitative of the present invention and wherein,

FIG. 1 is a section through a steamer;

FIG. 2 is an enlargement of the discharge end of the steamer accordingto FIG. 1 with a subsequent wash bowl;

FIG. 3 shows the discharge end of a steamer with the I DESCRIPTION OFTHE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The steamer of the present invention comprisesa heat-insulated housing 1, provided with conveying rollers 2 forunilateral material guidance, a heated or heatable sump 3 containingheating elements 4 for the production of saturated steam, a heatablefeed roller 5 and an exhaust hood 6 which is installed at the inlet endof the apparatus. Additional heating elements 7 serve for maintainingthe required temperature constant and a perforated plate 8 serves forholding back water drops which might otherwise be carried along by therising steam and produce spots on the material.

The material 9 is fed to the steamer via the heatable feed roller 5 andforms loops 10 because of the particular arrangement of the conveyingrollers 2. After having passed the steamer, the material which can bemade, for example, of wool or polyamide fibers, travels the distance 11(dash-and-dot line) and reaches the surge tank 12 where it is guidedaround a roller 14 which is immersed in the liquor 13. Through the useof roller 15 the material is then carried along to the subsequenttreatment units.

Goods of polyacrylonitrile fibers, which are very susceptible topressure as long as they are heated to near the setting temperature, areguided through the discharge opening (which can be closed if necessary)to the guide roller 17, above which an exhaust hood 18 is arranged. Thesuction pipe 19 re-raises the pile fibers and leads the material ontothe sieve drum 20 which is subject to a positive draft. The positivedraft of that portion of the sieve drum which is not covered with thematerial being treated is screened off by means of a baffle plate 21.The material is transported to the following machines by means of guiderollers 22 and 15. For a solvent dyeing process, the exhausts 6 and 18as well as the water outlet 23 can be connected with a solvent recoveryunit.

FIG. 2 is an enlargement of certain sections of the device whichrepresent further objects of the invention. This figure shows only thesurge tank which serves as the material discharge outlet. The watersurface of the surge tank is sealed against the steamer interior bymeans of a plate 43. This plate 43 which isprovided with a material slit44 serves for separating the hot steam atmosphere from the water surfaceso that any excessive steam condensation on the water surface iseliminated. In order to ensure a better material passage and to preventthe material from accumulating, the plate 43 is funnel-shaped andinclined in the direction of material passage. It is also fitted to thewalls of the discharge duct.

In this embodiment of the apparatus according to the present invention,the guide roller 45 which is immersed in the liquor of the surge tank isdesigned as an oscillating roller which controls the conveying speeds ofthe machines which follow the steamer in accordance with the inclinationof its counter-roller 45'. This arrangement has been utilized because ithas been found that especially at the beginning of the treatmentprocess, the material speeds at the inlet and discharge ends of theapparatus do not always correspond. Such a speed difference can be due,for example, to a material loop 10 having wound up because its ownweight is too great.

After having passed the surge tank 12, thematerial is guided into asqueezing unit 46, which means that the surge tank 12 can beadvantageously used as a wash bowl and thus the otherwise necessaryadditional wash bowl can be omitted. Squeezing off the superfluousliquor which is mixed with unset dyestuffs, permits the obtaining of agood cleaning effect. The cleaning effect can be improved by the use ofa sieve drum instead of a simple guide roller 45.

The squeezed material which is now substantially dehydrated is thenguided over the expanding and controlling unit 47, to the middle of thewash bowl 23. This controlling unit is needed since it has been foundthat, due to the great number of material loops 10, the material cannotbe prevented from running off the middle of the steamer working width.The unit 47 comprises an expander roller 48 with a thread running fromthe center outward and a roller 49 which is swivelable, vertically, tothe direction of material passage and onto which the material is fed bythe guide roller 50. It is advantageous to arrange the controlling unit47 after the squeezing unit 46, above the surge tank 12, and between thesurge tank and the subsequent wash bowl 23, so that the overall lengthof the apparatus is not extended and the material is already shifted tothe middle when being fed into the wash bowl 23. The installation of thesqueezing unit 46 is especially advantageous because most of the liquoris thus removed from the material. Accordingly, the material is lighterand any sagging or lengthwise stretching of the material length isthereby effectively eliminated.

The relatively large distance between the squeezing unit 46 and therespective expander roller 48 and guide roller 50 is necessary in orderto obtain a sufficiently long control distance for the swivelable roller49. After the material has been re-shifted to the middle, it is fed intothe wash bowl 23, if necessary, via guide roller 51. if need be, thecloth beam 24, described with reference to FIG. 3, can be adjoineddirectly thereto.

FIG. 3 shows the discharge end of the steamer and the subsequent washingmachine which are part of the device according to the present inventioncomprising a dyestuff applicator 80, a steamer (both according toFIG. 1) for heat-setting the dyestuffs, a wash bowl 23, a cloth beam 24,another wash bowl 25 and a dryer (not shown). The material (which hereis supposed to be pile material) passes the steamer in the direction ofthe arrow 52 in the form of several loops 10 which are, as has beendescribed, guided through the machine only by means of guide rollers 2which are arranged near the steamer ceiling. v

The discharge end wall 54 of the steamer extends down to the perforatedplate 8 of the water sump on the steamer floor. Together with thesteamer housing wall 55, the discharge end wall 54 form the materialdischarge slit 56 which is situated near the bottom of the steamer. Thematerial discharge slit 56 should preferably be only as wide as thematerial is thick so that steam leakages from the steamer interior areeliminated. However, the slit must not be too narrow since in this casethe pile of the carpet is pressed down and the voluminosity of thematerial is permanently impaired.

A material loop 57 forms around the bottom edge of the steamer end wall54, the length of said loop being controlled by the control unit 58.This control unit 58 regulates the rotational speed of the guide roller59 which in its turn controls the speeds of the subsequent machines.Between the guide roller 59 which can be designed as an expander rollerand the lower loop end 57 there are disposed an exhaust device 60 at thematerial pile side and a counter roller at the reverse side of thematerial. Device 60 is a conventional sieve roller having internalbaffle means (as shown) which define a narrow slit through which avacuum is applied to the textile material. These two rollers ensure thatthe pile is re-raised and can be fixed in an upright position whenpassing the subsequent cooling distance.

The steamer is followed by a washing machine.

Between the expander roller 59 and the roller 61 which feeds thematerial onto the drum of the first wash bowl, a beating unit 62 isinstalled on the reverse side of the material, said unit causes afluttering of the material length. This fluttering of the materialensures a rapid cooling of the fibers beneath their softening point.However, if the material is not yet cooled down beneath the fibersoftening point and there is still the danger of fiber displacement whenthe pile side of the material comes into contact with the surface of thesieve drum 63, the underside of the material is put onto the wash bowldrum 63 which rotates in the opposite direction to the subsequent washbowl drum 65 (see arrows 64 and 66). The material which adheres with itsunderside on'the drum 63 is penetrated by the washing liquor because ofthe existing liquor level difference. The fibers are efficiently cooleddown beneath their softening point and the pile is raised, due to .thedirection of the liquor flow. After the material 9 has been 'guidedaround the drum of the first wash bowl 63, most of the absorbed liquoris removed by means of the suction unit 67. Thereafter, the material isguided through a cavity in the foundation, via the cloth beam 24, to thefollowing wash bowl 25, where it can safely adhere with its pile side onthe drum surface.

Between the two wash bowls a cloth beam 24 is arranged which serves fortransporting the material which comes from the wash bowl 23 to thesecond was bowl 25 by means of transporting rollers.

In a continuous process the cloth beam 24 has no special function.However, if the dyestuff applicator (not shown), or possibly a printingunit or the steamer are cleaned, if one of these machines must bestopped for some reason, or if shorter material lengths which have, forinstance, been dyed previously in a winch beck are to be dried in asubsequent dryer, the material is transported in a carriage 26underneath the cloth beam 24 and drawn off from this carriage by meansof the rollers 27. The second carriage 28 can serve either for taking upthe material which is discharged from the steamer or for supplyingfurther material lengths from a winch beck, for instance. This offersthe advantage that the ends of two material lengths can be sewn togetherso that a continuous treatment of the textile material is possible. Inthe embodiment shown, the cloth beam 24 is installed between the firstand the second wash bowls (23/25). This arrangement has been chosenbecause the upper layers of the material which lies plaited in thecarriages 26 and 28 tend to dry out in the course of time. However, inorder to obtain a uniform drying effect, the moisture content must beuniform over the entire material length. Therefore, the material ispreferably guided through the second wash bowl 25 before being fed intothe subsequent dryer.

FIG. 4 shows a steamer discharge end which corresponds essentially tothe discharge end shown in FIG. 3, with the difference, however, beingthat the material discharge slit 68 is arranged in a cavity 69underneath the steamer floor. This ensures the elimination of anyundesired steam leakages. Furthermore, FIG. 4 shows a somewhat prolongedmaterial discharge duct 70. This duct is formed by a wall which is atthe same time the front wall of the water sump. This kind of extendedduct also prevents the steam from leaking out at the material dischargeslit 68.

FIG. 5 shows another type of material discharge end. In this case thedischarge end comprises a surge tank 71 which is almost as high as thesteamer itself. Here, too, the material is guided around the lower edgeof the front wall 54 of the steamer, but this front wall is almostentirely surrounded by the water container 72 of the surge tank whichforms a material dischargeduct at both sides of the front wall 54.

The surge tank is supplied with fresh water from the outside (see arrow73) and a corresponding amount of water flows off within the steamer,i.e., over the upper edge of the duct 74, into an overflow channel 75.Depending on the amount of fresh water being supplied, the water whichis drained off can have a temperature which corresponds to the settingtemperature of the material. The water in the surge tank is heated up bythe hot material which is guided therethrough. The fresh water flowsthrough the surge tank in the opposite direction to the dischargedmaterial 9 (see arrow 76) and is subsequent removed from the surge tankso that the material is cooled down rapidly and any fixation ofdisplaced fibers is effectively prevented. The water which leaves thesurge tank via the overflow channel 75 inside the steamer and which hashere a temperature which almost corresponds to the material settingtemperature can preferably be guided into the water sump of the steamer.

The materials which can be treated by the apparatus of the presentinvention include any of the natural or synthetic fibers. The naturalfibers can include cotton, wool, silk, cellulose, etc., and thesynthetic fibers may comprise synthetic polymers such as polyolefins,e.g., polyethylene, polypropylene, etc., polyamides, e.g., Nylon 6obtained by the condensation of caprolactam, Nylon 66 obtained by thecondensation of hex amethylenediamine with adipic acid, etc., polyester,e.g., polyethylene terephthalate, etc., phenolic resins, e.g., phenolformaldehyde resins, urea formaldehyde resins, etc., polyvinylmaterials, e.g., polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl acetate, etc., andacr'ylate resins such as e.g., polymethylmethacrylate. Copolymers ofthese materials with one another or with ethylenically unsaturatedmonomers, and similar type polymers are also encompassed by the presentinvention. The present invention is also applicable to blends of theabove-mentioned textile materials.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same maybe varied in many ways. Such variations are not be to regarded as adeparture from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all suchmodifications as would be apparent to one skilled in the art areintended to be included.

What is claimed is:

1. A steamer apparatus for the dyestuff fixing of textile materials madeof natural and synthetic fibers which comprises a heat-insulatedtreatment chamber containing a plurality of conveying rollers disposedin the upper portion thereof for forming loops of textile materialwithin said steamer, drive means operatively associated with saidconveying rollers, heating means disposed within said treatment chamber,water sump means located along the bottom of said steamer for generatingsteam therein, inlet means for introducing the textile material to betreated to said treatment chamber onto the first of said conveyingrollers and outlet means for removing the textile material from the lastof said conveying rollers and from the steamer in the form of a loop,said outlet means comprising a narrow aperture defined between a wallforming the discharge end wall of the steamer and a wall forming the endwall of the water sump at the bottom of the steamer, said discharge endwall of the steamer extending downward to at last the height of the endwall of the water sump whereby leakage of steam from said steamer issubstantially eliminated during discharge of said textile materialthrough said aperture near the bottom of said steamer and the lastconveying roller being arranged directly above said aperture so that thetextile material only contacts said last conveying roller before removalfrom said steamer.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the material being treated forms inthe loop around the bottom edge of the steamer discharge end wall, andis guided on a guide roller disposed a distance above the outlet means,the length of the loop being controlled by a con trol unit whichregulates the rotational speed of the guide roller.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said control unit is locatedadjacent to the loop of said material.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein a wash bowl containing a sieve drummeans subjected to a suction draft is disposed behind the guide roller.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein a beating unit is disposed betweenthe guide roller and the wash bowl and associated with one side of thematerial to cause a fluttering of the material length.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein a further guide roller is disposedabove the above wash bowl to deposit the material on the wash bowl drumso that its backside contacts the surface of the drum.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein a suction unit is disposed afterthe wash bowl.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein an additional wash bowl is providedafter the suction unit, and a cloth beam containing conveying rollersprovides communication between said wash bowls.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the cloth beam is installed aboveand between the wash bowls and at least one carriage means is disposedbelow the cloth beam between said wash bowls.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, which further comprises a dyestuffapplicator means disposed in front of the steamer and a dryer disposedbehind the wash bowls.

11. A steamer apparatus for dyestuff fixing of textile materials made ofnatural and synthetic fibers which comprises a heat-insulated treatmentchamber containing a plurality of conveying rollers disposed in theupper portion thereof, drive means operatively associated with saidconveying rollers, heating means disposed within said treatment chamber,water sump means located along the bottom of said steamer for generatingsteam therein, inlet means for introducing the textile material to betreated to said treatment chamber, said textile material having a pileside and a back side, and outlet means for removing the textile materialfrom the steamer, said outlet means comprising a narrow aperture definedbetween a wall forming the discharge end wall of the steamer, and a wallforming the end wall of the water sump at the bottom of the steamer,said discharge end of the steamer extending downward to at least theheight of the end wall of the water sump whereby leakage of steam fromsaid steam is substantially eliminated during discharge of said textilematerial through said aperture near the bottom of said steamer, thematerial being treated forming a loop around the bottom edge of thesteamer discharge end wall and being guided on a guide roller disposed adistance above the outlet means, the length of the loop being controlledby a control unit which regulates the rotational speed of the guideroller, and an exhaust device provided between a curved portion of theloop of the material being treated and said guide roller, said exhaustdevice comprising an exhaust roller associated with the pile side of thematerial and a counter-roller associated with the back side of thematerial.

1. A steamer apparatus for the dyestuff fixing of textile materials madeof natural and synthetic fibers which comprises a heat-insulatedtreatment chamber containing a plurality of conveying rollers disposedin the upper portion thereof for forming loops of textile materialwithin said steamer, drive means operatively associated with saidconveying rollers, heating means disposed within said treatment chamber,water sump means located along the bottom of said steamer for generatingsteam therein, inlet means for introducing the textile material to betreated to said treatment chamber onto the first of said conveyingrollers and outlet means for removing the textile material from the lastof said conveying rollers and from the steamer in the form of a loop,said outlet means comprising a narrow aperture defined between a wallforming the discharge end wall of the steamer and a wall forming the endwall of the water sump at the bottom of the steamer, said discharge endwall of the steamer extending downward to at last the height of the endwall of the water sump whereby leakage of steam from said steamer issubstantiAlly eliminated during discharge of said textile materialthrough said aperture near the bottom of said steamer and the lastconveying roller being arranged directly above said aperture so that thetextile material only contacts said last conveying roller before removalfrom said steamer.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the materialbeing treated forms in the loop around the bottom edge of the steamerdischarge end wall, and is guided on a guide roller disposed a distanceabove the outlet means, the length of the loop being controlled by acontrol unit which regulates the rotational speed of the guide roller.3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said control unit is locatedadjacent to the loop of said material.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2,wherein a wash bowl containing a sieve drum means subjected to a suctiondraft is disposed behind the guide roller.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4,wherein a beating unit is disposed between the guide roller and the washbowl and associated with one side of the material to cause a flutteringof the material length.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein a furtherguide roller is disposed above the above wash bowl to deposit thematerial on the wash bowl drum so that its backside contacts the surfaceof the drum.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein a suction unit isdisposed after the wash bowl.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein anadditional wash bowl is provided after the suction unit, and a clothbeam containing conveying rollers provides communication between saidwash bowls.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the cloth beam isinstalled above and between the wash bowls and at least one carriagemeans is disposed below the cloth beam between said wash bowls.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 8, which further comprises a dyestuff applicatormeans disposed in front of the steamer and a dryer disposed behind thewash bowls.